Visitors will have a little less time to explore the past at the annual Heritage Celebration.
The event has been scaled back to a one-day event from the usual two.
"The logistics for the volunteers was a little difficult for two full days," said Kelly Sutherland, recreation supervisor.
The event, which features entertainment, hands-on activities, building tours and demonstrations of vintage trades, will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 2, in Century Village at Fryer Park, 4185 Orders Road.
The Southwest Franklin County Historical Society and the city of Grove City present the event.
"The Heritage Celebration is a great way to get a sense of the past," said John Hines, the historical society's vice president.
All of the historic buildings at Century Village, including the one-room Orders Road School, the blacksmith shop, log cabins and barns, will be open for tours, Hines said.
Another historic building recently relocated to the village -- a train depot -- is in place and will be available for viewing, but is not yet open to the public, Hines said.
The circa 1884 depot was moved in January from the intersection of Park and Front streets to the village. The society is working on a full restoration of the building.
"We're hoping to have it open for people at our Old Time Harvest Day (on Oct. 6)," he said. "There are portions of the floor that we're having to repair because of the leaks that have taken place over the years.
"We're planning to install a platform facing the village that will replicate the platform that was at the depot when it was open for train travel," Hines said.
The depot will be repainted to feature the original colors of the Cleveland, Columbus and Midland Railroad that originally operated the depot when it opened in the 1880s, he said. The historical society possesses a caboose that used to sit outside of the depot, and that will be installed outside the building at Century Village.
The historical society also plans to move two other vintage structures to Century Village over the next five years, Hines said.
One of those buildings -- a 19th-century barn currently located near Concord Cemetery in Jackson Township -- will serve as a welcome center at the historic park, he said.
The other structure is a root cellar built in the 1840s that the society plans to place near the heritage gardens, Hines said.
Volunteers from the Gardens at Gantz are planning a redesign of the heritage gardens and will convert the east portion of the plot into an 1860s-style vegetable garden, he said.
The volunteer group is among a number of area historic and community groups that will have displays and information available at the Heritage Celebration.
Participating groups will include the Hilltop, Franklinton, Madison County and Pickaway County historical societies, the John Hoover chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Ohio Genealogical Society and long-existing churches from the Grove City community, including the Purple Door Church, St. John's and the First Presbyterian Church, Hines said.
Live entertainment will include Steve Madewell from Painesville; the Grove City Pickers; and the Little Theatre Off Broadway, which will present selections from "The Century Box," a play that tells the history of Jackson Township and Grove City.
"We'll also have the Ohio Village Muffins playing our own Grove City team in a game using the original mid-1800s rules of baseball," Sutherland said. "That's always one of my favorite parts of the day. It's a lot of fun to see baseball played in its original style."
Handmade traditional crafts will be available for purchase and the Grove City Lions Club will sell food.
Samples of homemade beans will be distributed at the Kegg House, Hines said.
"It will be the type of beans that people served with cornbread back in the day," he said. "We'll be giving out free samples."
Carriage rides will be offered during the afternoon.
Residents who are unable to attend the Heritage Celebration can tour the historic buildings at Century Village during open-house events the historically society will present during the summer, Hines said.
The open houses are held from 2 to 4 p.m. the fourth Saturday of each month through September.
More information is available at www.grovecityohhistory.org.
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